Measuring Cups
by EmmySmosher713
Summary: Audrina thinks her card isn't special enough, so she's going to make a Father's Day breakfast for Ian and Anthony. How will this turn out? (For "Have Faith in Me" contest)


Audrina sighed. She turned a yellow homemade card over in her hands and opened it, revealing a stick figure drawing of her Daddy and Papa. The young girl shook her head in disappointment.

It was the night before Father's Day, and Audrina had tried her hardest to make the best gift ever for her parents, Ian and Anthony. Her whole kindergarten class had made cards for their dads in art class, and she was determined to make that card as good as possible. However, looking at the craft she made now, it didn't seem as special to her. The yellow paper she chose didn't look as bright as it had; the crayon "Happy Father's Day" on the front was misspelled, Audrina realized, it now said, "Hapy Fater's Daye." She couldn't give a gift like this to the two most amazing people in the world, the people who saved her from a lifetime of misery, and worked so hard to get her from her abusive mother.

Suddenly, Audrina remembered the breakfast her dads had prepared for her on her 5th birthday. _I could try to make a breakfast,_ she thought. _The best breakfast in the world!_ All of the little details put themselves together in Audrina's head, and she nodded to herself. She would prepare the best breakfast in the world, but first, she realized as she yawned, she had to get a good night's rest. Audrina turned onto her side and smiled to herself as she went to sleep. _It couldn't be that hard, right?_

 _Wrong. This is really hard._

The next morning had arrived, and Audrina had come to a crossroads. The Bisquick was in her hands, but the instructions were impossible to follow.

"What kind of cup do I need to use?" Audrina whispered to herself, furrowing her brows. "Would my sippy cup work?" she wondered.

Audrina looked again at the directions. The first ingredient was "2 cups of pancake mix." She checked that off her mental list. Next, "1 ¼ cups skim milk."

"Which number is it, one or four?" Audrina rubbed her temples, frustrated. Her teacher hadn't taught the class about those kinds of numbers yet; she made a mental note to ask her teacher about that on Monday. Audrina decided the one cup was good enough for now.

She opened the refrigerator and looked to the top shelf. Soy milk wasn't the same as regular milk, but it would do. Audrina grabbed a shelf and started to climb up to the top. Miraculously, she managed to get up and down safely, although she dented the milk carton by dropping it on the floor. When Audrina looked at the box again, the next ingredient was an egg. She sighed as she realized that wasn't in the house, due to her Papa being a vegan. However, she remembered that he would sometimes use applesauce as a replacement, so Audrina went back to the pantry and grabbed an applesauce pouch from the box on the floor, conveniently placed where she could reach it for a snack. While she was dashing around the kitchen in her nightgown, she found a plastic bowl and a small spoon, and a stepstool, smiling to herself while remembering that her Daddy was the one who bought it after having to have Papa reach things for him when he was working in the kitchen. She put all of her ingredients on the island in the middle of the kitchen and climbed on the top of the stepstool, her head barely making it past the granite. Audrina grabbed the box again, ready to start making the pancakes. However, as Audrina opened the box of pancake mix, she realized she had forgotten a cup.

"What kind of cup, stupid directions?" the young girl sighed. She went into the pantry once more and decided a plastic party cup would do. She scrambled to the top of the stepstool and started to pour the mix in the cup. As she was filling it, however, Audrina lost her grip on the cup, and the mix spilled over onto the counter, the floor, and her nightgown. After brushing most of the powder off (and onto the floor), she had the pancake mix in the bowl.

Her luck wasn't going to last very long, however, as when Audrina started to pour the soy milk, she realized the container was _much_ heavier than she thought. The milk spilled on the floor with a loud _thump_ , and Audrina lost her balance and fell off the stepstool and landed on her butt.

Immediately, Ian and Anthony were awoken, and rushed into the kitchen to find out what had happened. There they found their daughter on the floor, covered in pancake mix and cold soy milk, and the kitchen counter trashed with the same ingredients.

"Audri?" Ian asked, shocked at the mess, and more importantly, his child creating it. "What is this?"

"Daddy, Papa, I-It's not what it looks like-it was-I was trying to-" Audrina stuttered. Her eyes started to well up with tears, and before she could begin to explain what had happened, she started bawling and blubbering.

"Audri, come here," Anthony picked up his crying daughter and took her to the bathroom. "Ian, will you go get her a change of clothes?" he asked his husband.

"Alright, Audri, can you tell us what happened?" Ian asked gently.

Audrina fidgeted on her bed. "Well…" she began, nervous. "I was trying to make a breakfast for you, and…I spilled. A lot." She was starting to sniffle again. "I made a card, but…I didn't think it was special enough."

Audrina paused for a moment, waiting for the inevitable punishment. Ian and Anthony looked at each other and smiled. "Audrina, where is the card?" Anthony asked, smiling.

The young girl looked up, confused. "It's here…" She got up and opened the drawer in her pink nightstand. After shuffling around for a bit, she handed her parents the card.

Ian and Anthony opened the card and read the message inside out loud. "To Daddy and Papa, happy Father's Day, I love you so much. From Audrina."

Anthony smiled at his daughter. "Audri, this is a beautiful card. I love this!"

"Really?" Audrina beamed. "Do you like it too, Daddy?"

"I do!" Ian gushed. "Why didn't you think it was special enough, silly?" He ruffled Audrina's hair, resulting in giggles from all three of them.

"So next time, we're going to _ask_ before we try to do something, right?" Ian confirmed.

"Yes," Audrina nodded. "I'm sorry, I just wanted it to be special. But I have a question."

"Yes?" Anthony acknowledged.

"When it says I need a cup of something, what kind of cup is it talking about?" she asked innocently.

Ian and Anthony laughed. "A _measuring cup,_ dear. There are special cups for that." Anthony explained. "Now, me and Daddy need to get dressed, and then we need to clean up the mess. We love you very much, Audri."

"I love you more," Audrina smiled.

"We love you to the moon and back," Ian replied, embracing his husband and daughter.


End file.
